The present invention relates to an accessory that attaches to the legs of a chair to afford it a rocking facility.
People who favor rocking chairs often wish to convert conventional chairs to rocking chairs. Such conversion may be desired when using a chair away from home. Alternatively, a user may only wish temporarily to convert a chair into a rocker.
For this reason, rocker attachments have been proposed as detachable accessories for regular chairs. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 255,104 a rocker attachment uses a pair of rockers each having a pair of mortises for receiving the four legs of a chair. This rocker attachment is secured to a chair by an adjustable hook that connects to the rungs of the chair. In U.S. Pat. No. 101,802 mortised rocker attachments are tied around the legs and over the rungs of a chair by means of cords and bands. A disadvantage with these attachment systems is that stress is applied to the joint between the rung and leg and the leg or rung can be damaged or defaced. Rungs can be frail and are not normally designed for the pressures generated by rocking.
Other rocker attachments use a curved channel, (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 1,367,390) into which the legs of a chair are placed. Still other rocker attachments permanently modify a chair leg by driving a screw into the leg. See U.S. Pat. No. 1,566,157. Other rocker attachments do not drive a screw directly into the leg but employ set screws that apply high lateral pressure to the leg which creates a significant likelihood of distortion or damage to the leg (see U.S. Pat. No. 1,231,151). Such distortion and potential damage to a chair leg is unacceptable for a visiting guest using a host's chair. Some attachments have attempted to reduce the point pressure on the legs by using wrap-around clamps such as pipe clamps. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,353. Other leg clamping devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 138,826; 232,147; 244,104; 315,369; and 406,400. A disadvantage with all of these systems is that high stress is applied to the tip of the chair leg. Many chair legs are wooden and are not designed to sustain the high lateral forces associated with rocking. See also U.S. Pat. No. 15,302; 71,357; 72,178; 75,617; and 145,036.
Accordingly, there is a need for an easily used rocker attachment that does not risk damaging chair legs and can be quickly and easily secured to the leg of a chair.